You Have Him
by robert3A-SN
Summary: Thanks to Ben, Leslie gets hooked on "Lost" - particularly when it introduces a popular, yet not always likable character with a very familar name.


**Warning: Major spoilers ahead for all six seasons of Lost, including the finale- and including details about the other greatest Ben in television history.**

Despite being called nerds at least 10 times a day by Tom, Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt fell under different aspects of the nerd spectrum. They were both safely in the government nerd sub-category, although Ben was definitely the only one of them in the sci-fi nerd group. So Ben figured that he needed to bring his new girlfriend into that fold slowly- which meant talking her into seeing Star Wars would be a far too obvious opening move.

Instead, he pestered her into finally opening a Season 1 DVD of Lost, even though she had thought it was a Gilligan's Island remake- and she wasn't too fond of how the last few seasons went on that show. Yet since Leslie was such a dedicated problem solver at work, Ben figured that once she saw all of the island mysteries, she would be working around the clock to figure them out. Hopefully it would wear her out too much for her to notice that half of them wouldn't be answered at the end.

Nevertheless, it came as no surprise that Leslie was already making charts, lists and balls of paper with her rejected theories, about halfway through Season 1. It wasn't even a shock to Ben that she wound up taking his homemade waffles hostage at lunch once, in hopes of getting him to say what was in the hatch.

Naturally, she was a "Jater" and refused to accept that Kate would get taken in by Sawyer's bad-boy ways. What's more, she even briefly considered asking Ben to get her some medical books at the library, to see if they could explain how Locke could walk again on the island. But that temporary insanity- the same one that made her forget her best friend worked in a hospital- lasted for just a second.

Nevertheless, she was in a better state of mind when her and Ben were watching the middle of the Season 2 DVD. Leslie had only written down a few clues and notes in her second notebook for Lost theories, and Ben had still managed to keep quiet about what the hatch really did. In the last few episodes, he had even perfected ways to tune out the Tailie and Ana-Lucia scenes in his head.

Then they got to the start of the episode entitled "One Of Them" when Sayid got taken to a net that held a rather scared-looking man inside.

"My name is Henry Gale! I'm from Minnesota!"

Although they were just starting the mystery of whether "Henry Gale" was an Other, Leslie just needed one look at him to yell that he was. As usual, Ben chuckled and kept secret on whether she was right, knowing it would even take her aback to see that Henry was really….

…

….

Oh…..dear…..Jacob…..

Ben had accepted that moments of lunacy, short-sightedness and madness were a pre-requisite in Pawnee, with Leslie's brand being the most tolerable by far. He even knew that a formally rational man like himself would be prone to these spells quite frequently, especially when Leslie played even the slightest role. Yet this particular brand of idiocy pre-dated Leslie by a wide margin.

Since he got into Lost before he was into self-reflection, and had more than enough ways to bash himself, he didn't take much note in how the show's most deranged, destructive, psychopathic villain shared his name. Of course, since Ben Linus's evil was up in the air much of the time, despite most evidence to the contrary, it gave the real Ben less reason to compare his rotten lot in life, and his own path of destruction, to the fake one. He had enough reasons to do that without watching TV, after all.

But although he was too oblivious to make the connection, even after so many years, Leslie would figure it out the second that Season 3 got started. Suddenly, sharing the same name with a character who was monstrous, and threatened the good guys when everyone first met him, wasn't a promising plot twist.

So Ben watched a bit nervously as Leslie didn't fall for any of Henry's tricks and mind games, and had a smug smile when he was finally uncovered as an Other, as she thought. For a little while before Ben put in the Season 3 DVD, he almost regretted telling Leslie that real Losties don't peek at Wikipedia to look ahead- especially on government computers.

Although even Leslie wasn't so far gone to think that Ben Wyatt could be Ben Linus- probably- the jokes, comparisons, and subtle reminders of how rotten they both were at first would probably dampen the viewing experience for him. He'd just have to hope that Leslie would focus more on the flashforwards and time travel later, before they got to Season 6 and the smoke monster took over the evil throne.

So when the name "Ben" was first mentioned in the opening scene of "A Tale Of Two Cities" it was a break that Oceanic 815 flew over the Others compound seconds later, which freaked Leslie out enough to buy time. But once Juliet addressed Henry Gale as Ben at the very end, there were no cliffhangers and twists left to sidetrack Leslie.

Instead of saying anything, she just paused the DVD, studied the real Ben intently, then actually tried to stick his hair up like the fake one- and even widened his eyes to replicate Linus's bug-eyed look. With that, Ben thought of the first and most fitting Lost reference he could think of before Leslie said anything.

"Hi, my name is Benjamin Wyatt, and I haven't been near an island all my life." This made Leslie look more puzzled than reassured, as Ben figured it would. "That'll make more sense in the next episode….so let's check out why it does, shall we?"

Since Leslie focused back on the screen after Ben pressed play, it seemed to be a sign of success. It appeared to be a greater success in future episodes, given that Leslie had no comments or questions about Lost's Ben, even as he kept manipulating Jack and Locke. But it actually made him more uneasy waiting for the jokes and questions, as Ben Linus-related details became the only thing that Leslie didn't ask for more details on. On this one plot point, it appeared that she was actually waiting to see what would happen for herself, and was too focused to make theories.

That tactic had its good and bad points, as Ben noticed when he started watching Leslie during Linus's scenes, more than he watched the TV. When there were moments in which Ben's evil was in doubt, she seemed to be more relieved. When he went too far, she seemed to be booing to herself- especially when TV Ben kept Juliet from leaving the island.

That troubled relationship, and Juliet's hair color, certainly didn't put the real Ben more at ease in imagining Leslie's thoughts. So when Ben yelled that Juliet was his in Season 4, he got up to make more popcorn the first chance he got. For the first time, he was glad that Ben and Juliet's relationship had been completely forgotten by the writers after that. What's more, Leslie was starting to soften towards Sawyer, so she might be more receptive to Juliet getting with him in Season 5. It would reflect how her opinion of a character she first hated could change over time.

The good points came when Ben finally seemed less evil, compared to Widmore and the freighter people. In fact, when Alex was killed, real Ben couldn't help but notice the watery eyes Leslie had when TV Ben kissed her goodbye. Leslie had outright bawled over bigger Lost deaths, and when some of her most passionate theories were proven wrong. But even though she wasn't tearing up that much this time, it had to be a promising sign.

Yet once Ben murdered Locke in the middle of Season 5, real Ben needed to get quite a big waffle order for Leslie, before she looked comfortable around him the next day.

Still, that was actually a comforting moment for Ben, since the worst was now over. From then on in, it would be smooth sailing, thanks to the Man in Black turning Ben Linus into a pawn of his own. Indeed, when young Ben was shot, and grown-up Ben gave his big speech before killing Jacob, Leslie was on the edge of her couch even more than she was when the island disappeared. But since Leslie was still wiping away tears after Juliet's tragic fall in 1977, perhaps she wasn't paying that much attention to Ben's speech.

Then came Season 6, in which theory-hunting Leslie was back in full-force, especially with the flash sideways. There wasn't as much Ben worrying to do in the meantime, and real Ben only bothered to check on Leslie twice during TV Ben's breakdown in "Dr. Linus" He briefly worried about the second-to-last episode, as Linus's possible allegiance with the smoke monster was bound to frighten Leslie for a bit. But she was likely stressing out for a thousand different reasons before he put on the series finale, so there was a lot to distract her.

2 ½ hours, many reunions, many tears, many unanswered questions, and many renewed conflicted feelings about the last 15 minutes later, it was all over.

Leslie was predictably fighting through tears, confusion and a bit of annoyance, much like all of Lost nation over a year earlier- and even Ben, when he watched it from his then-new motel room in Pawnee. Of course, since the finale aired right after he started his budget meetings with Leslie, his mind might have been a jumble before then.

But once Jack closed his eye for the last time, Ben knew that the questions, outrage and final spare tears would be coming. Whether they would be over the finale itself, or Ben Linus's ultimate fate, was a question that Ben Wyatt didn't have a preferred answer for.

"So….I was right about purgatory after all?" Okay, her first question was good for a regular old Lost discussion. Maybe if she felt validated enough that it was halfway right, she'd forget about that….other Lost discussion they had been avoiding.

"In a way, you were, but you heard Christian. Everything that happened on the island was real, and it was only purgatory after they were all dead in the sideways." Ben was about to explain his theory that the light in the church was connected to the light at the heart of the island, before Leslie got in her next question.

"So if everyone in the church got to Heaven….that means Ben was being kept out? Kept out and all alone outside?"

Well, out of all the ways she could have finally brought him up, that was among the top 10 most promising.

"Hurley couldn't have even put in a good word for him with Christian, or God, or whoever ran that place? Locke didn't even try to talk him out of staying, even though he forgave him? Don't they know that now he's all alone forever because of that?"

"Well….he'll probably get Alex and Rousseau to remember everything, and then leave with them on his own. In fact, Michael Emerson actually said after the finale that-"

"You don't know that's what's gonna happen, it's all over! As far as the writers are concerned, they're leaving him stuck in limbo with no one to help him out forever! How could they do that? Sure, he was mean and evil and killed people's dreams and tried to ruin everyone's lives at first, but that's wasn't the whole story! They saw how he grew up in 1977, and what Sayid did to ruin his childhood, that kind of trauma when you're young just doesn't go away! But he still tried to save the island at the end, and he saved Hurley, and he helped him clean up the mess that Jacob and the monster made!"

"But all those other murderers and cheaters that almost wrecked the island got to move on, while Ben got nothing for being a better person and showing that he was a softie? That's crap on a magic island, Ben! After everything he went through, every rotten thing in his past he overcame, and all the good he did with someone who looked past everything to give him another chance….there should….there should have been at least someone who'd have him!"

For the second time since Ben started watching Lost with Leslie, he almost slapped himself for being so oblivious.

First he didn't pick up on having the same name as a TV lunatic….and then he didn't pick up on sharing it with a redeemed, tragic semi-hero. But one Lostie saw it….and saw a bunch of other things….a lot sooner.

With that, real Ben got Leslie to stop shaking a bit over fake Ben, by pulling her into his arms.

"You have him" he couldn't help but say, while his insides felt as explosive as dynamite- but not quite like the dynamite that blew up the character Ben was paraphrasing.

"What do you mean, I don't know that Ben, he's dead and….." Once Ben realized that Leslie really had no idea about the comparison she made, until now, he laughed as hard as he ever did at one of Hurley's one-liners, or Sawyer's nicknames. Leslie eventually joined in herself, before they both got quiet with a brief kiss.

"Not a bad choice, nerd," Leslie said while holding up the last Lost DVD box. "Except for how they didn't explain Walt. Or how they really made the sideways after they died. Or about Aaron being so important….or about the numbers….or why DHARMA used the numbers after Jacob used them to pick the candidates." With that, Leslie got up and headed for her piles of notes. "Come to think of it, why the heck did Jacob let Locke walk again if he was gonna be the Man in Black….and are we really supposed to buy that Jacob made him walk? Oh God, I almost sent you to the library to find out about Locke, and it was all for nothing!"

Although Leslie would probably be tearing through her notes apart for a hour….or a day or two….Ben knew that she'd come down eventually. Maybe when enough time went by, and enough unanswered questions were accepted, he would now have the opening to make his move on Star Wars.

It might help once he gave her a hint on what Obi-Wan Kenobi's other first name was.


End file.
